In today's technological society, there are numerous different types of equipment, used by individuals on a daily basis, which in some fashion or another require security for access and use. Perhaps the most familiar is the automobile, which requires an ignition key for access and use. An authorized individual, such as a car owner, possesses an instrumentality such as a pre-cut key, which (essentially) uniquely fits the lock of the automobile belonging to that individual. Because of his possession of a key, the car owner can freely enter and drive the car. By contrast, an unauthorized person, lacking the key, is prevented from accessing and using the car unless he is prepared to resort to breaking and entering, and car theft.
Automobiles are not the only types of equipment using such access/use keys. Since the advent of personal-sized, desk-top computers and workstations, security measures have developed, to ensure that the computers can be used only by authorized users. In particular, such machines are often designed to have key-operated locking mechanisms. An authorized user will get out his keychain, insert the key into the lock mechanism and turn the key, and thereby enable the computer for use.
Recent generations of computers have been reduced in size, and laptop portable computers, also called "notebook computers," such as IBM Corporation's ThinkPad (.TM.) line of computers, have become commonplace. To facilitate office use at the user's desk, docking stations such as IBM Corporation's Dock I and Dock II docking stations have physically accommodated ThinkPad computers, to provide convenient physical interfacing with monitors, printers, local area networks, etc. Security has also been given consideration here: docking stations also have key locks for allowing the laptop computers to be undocked for transportation.
While such locking mechanisms are familiar, they have the drawback of a certain amount of user inconvenience: the user must keep the key is his possession. The user who happens to leave the key at home when leaving for the office, will be unable to use the computer without going back home to get the key. In less drastic situations, the user is subjected to the inconvenience of getting out the key and going to the trouble of unlocking the computer.
Technology described in, co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,827 issued on Aug. 18, 1998 presents an exciting new technique for computer accessing security. A new apparatus, described under the name "Personal Area Network (PAN)," employs the human body as a signal conducting medium, and allows a user carrying a PAN device, the device having a transmitter, to facilitate electronic communication between the PAN device and a PAN receiver, merely by touching the receiver.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,827 is incorporated by reference herein.
In particular, FIG. 13 of the 08/749,865 application, reproduced as FIG. 1 of the present patent application, depicts an application environment in which a user, possessing a PAN device, uses a computer. The following paragraph, quoted from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,827, and using numbering consistent with that application, describes how the PAN device is used:
Referring to FIG. 13, the receiver electrode 18 is located underneath a computer keyboard 500. The computer keyboard is normally disabled. When the hand of a person who possesses an authorized Card 5 comes in close proximity to the keyboard, the keyboard is enabled. This arrangement prevents unauthorized people from using the computer. A similar system could be used for cash registers at restaurants and retail stores.
The considerable publicity which greeted IBM's announcement of PAN technology at the Fall 1996 COMDEX trade show demonstrated the high level of interest in the wide variety of possible applications thereof, such as those given in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,827.
However, further refinements and enhancements in the use of PAN technology remain to be implemented. For instance, a portable PAN device, to be carried by a user on his person, requires either recharging or battery replacement from time to time.
Conventional battery replacement has well-known drawbacks, such as the inconvenience of replacing batteries, often at inopportune times, the cost of replacement batteries, and the environmental impact of large numbers of discarded dead batteries.
Rechargability has been a popular solution for such electrical appliances. Conventional charging systems, however, have the drawback of requiring that the user allocate time for the recharging process. While the user may find certain time periods, such as overnight, to be convenient for recharging, the device will sometimes require recharging at other, less convenient, times.
Also, such conventional recharging arrangements require that the user leave the PAN device at the recharger for the duration of the recharging. Thus, the user is without the device while it is recharging. Also, the user may forget to take the PAN device from the recharger at a time when he may need it later.
Therefore, there is a need for a convenient mechanism for providing recharging for a PAN device, which provides recharge capability that is convenient, both in time and in place, for the user.